Ethical Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga (PREFACE)

Excerpt from Preface

"...I would define neuroethics as the examination of how we want to deal with the social issues of disease, normality, mortality, lifestyle, and the philosophy of living informed by our understanding of underlying brain mechanisms. It is not a discipline that seeks resources for medical cure, but one that places personal responsibility in the broadest social and biological context. It is--or should be--an effort to come up with a brain-based philosophy of life....When I began to write this book, I discovered an interesting thing about neuroscience and ethics: they don't always mix. I have spent my life in laboratories, searching for verifiable, reproducible, incontrovertible truths about how the brain works. Many of my discoveries, and those of others have influenced my worldview. I set out to write this book because I believed that the hard facts of neuroscience can and should influence many ethical issues....This is a book of inquiry into an emerging field. I will not have all the answers, but I hope to provide a few, and to provoke thought and debate that may lead to a deeper understanding of the role of neuroscience can and should play in society and in the way we go about our daily lives."

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